
Cristian Diaz
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Haedo, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Toptal member since October 16, 2020
Cristian has 16 years of experience leading IT projects and globally distributed teams in areas such as data management and analytics, software development, and IT operations support. He has worked across insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, HR, and Oil and Gas for major companies, including IBM, Epson, Ternium, Meta4, and Chevron. Christian leverages Agile, Scrum, SAFe, DevOps, ITSM, Lean Sigma, and design thinking to optimize processes and deliver solutions with significant business value.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Project Management
- Design Thinking
- IT Product Management
- IT Project Management
- Scrum Master
- Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
- Team Leadership
- Vendors & Suppliers
Work Experience
IT Product Manager
Chevron
- Established and led a new software development team (10 engineers) to deliver solutions to upstream digital platforms with a focus on unconventional assets in the Americas region.
- Launched the Oil Field Essentials program in Buenos Aires to increase the know-how of the upstream oil and gas segment in the LATAM region.
- Set up a contract with local suppliers to provide software development services to support the goals of different upstream product lines in the region.
Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master
Chevron
- Deployed a POC for simultaneous operations detection that enabled the Permian operations and drill-ready prepare team to proactively detect conflicts in their drilling and fracking schedules. The POC was successful and approved to move to MVP.
- Implemented the MVP and 15+ releases for a production forecasting system for North America upstream operations, enabling reductions in the time and resources required to perform forecasts and increasing the accuracy of the information.
- Deployed an MVP for upstream facilities that enabled a real-time calculation of utilization and capacity in the Permian region. This enabled proactive maintenance and actions to reduce operating costs and loss of production opportunities.
- Led efforts to define a staffing strategy to incorporate regional support from Buenos Aires and external suppliers in the Permian operations for multiple projects.
IT Business Planner
Chevron
- Built a forecast model for the business plan cycle along with a standard financial dashboard in PowerBI, reducing the time required to produce reports and increasing the accuracy of forecast financial figures.
- Engaged with local management, financial analysts, and key stakeholders, up to the GM level, on five functional areas to develop a resource requirement plan, align it with the staffing strategy, and produce recommendations for the site manager.
- Advised the site manager on strategic priorities for the business cycle and delivered reporting on the year-to-date actual vs. budget forecast and other KPIs.
Team Lead, Information Management Operations
Chevron
- Led the RFP process and statement of work and service to deploy two managed services for CMS and DMS services that reduced operating costs and optimized the service response.
- Implemented a service KPI real-time dashboard in PowerBI for the information management asset to monitor the service status and service level, thereby increasing visibility and informing decision-making and corrective actions.
- Led a replatform project for the IBM OnDemand tool (DB2 to Oracle), which reduced support costs and increased reliability.
- Spearheaded a pilot project for the Microsoft System Orchestrator automation tool, enabling the early adoption of DevOps practices in the information management organization.
- Led the finance invoice processing (AP) optimization and automation project that reduced the number of employees required to perform the activities, thereby reducing operation costs, increasing visibility, and improving process efficiency.
Team Lead, Data Management and Integration
Chevron
- Led a database migration project for the SharePoint 2010 platform as part of Chevron's global upgrade program. Automated the migration process, which reduced the migration time for all regional hubs.
- Directed the database and technology upgrade projects for the trading and risk management systems, increasing the performance and service response for the critical trading systems.
- Led the database service cost model update as part of the billing model and cycle refresh project, thereby improving data quality on service allocations, cost reductions, and increased efficiencies.
- Championed and led the adoption of ITSM practices for the data management team. This enabled the implementation of an incident and change management process that increased reliability, consistency, and tracking for issues and changes.
Lead Database Administrator
Epson
- Implemented a custom monitoring tool for all the database environments, reducing the resources required to perform the activities by 50%.
- Led an architecture assessment on the database system, resulting in platform upgrades and changes that increased performance and reliability.
- Spearheaded the upgrade to the ERP system used locally, enabling us to reduce licensing costs and add new and add new functionality.
Lead Database Administrator
IBM
- Led a data center migration project for Baxter Laboratories' databases, coordinating a DBA team and engaging stakeholders and other IT support staff. All the databases were migrated within the scheduled timeframe.
- Developed and implemented a custom monitoring tool that reduced the manual work and alerts and improved KPI service metrics in multiple customer accounts.
- Led small service improvement projects as a Lean Sigma quality analyst: improved the productivity of multiple teams, identified and resolved problems, and updated processes and documentation.
Technical Analyst and Project Coordinator
Meta4 Austral
- Led a one-year project to stabilize and optimize the payroll system implementation in the Mendoza Province Government Office, coordinating technical resources and engaging with government officers and multiple functional areas.
- Managed a six-month project to develop a performance evaluation module for VISA Argentina. This involved end-to-end development from requirements, analysis of alternatives, design, development, testing, and production deployment.
- Led the database migration and system upgrade project for the payroll and HR system in Phillip Morris International, leading to improved functionalities.
Technical Analyst and Project Coordinator
Aitech Soluciones
- Led the implementation project for the Meta4 payroll system in the nuclear energy government regulatory office, coordinating technical resources and engagement with stakeholders.
- Directed the implementation of a customer WiFi network via VLANs in two hotels in Buenos Aires, which reduced the maintenance time and costs for the hotels.
- Led the migration of file server from Novel Systems to Windows Server systems to reduce costs and improve supportability.
Project History
Oil and Gas Production Forecast System
Delivered an MVP and 15+ releases of a production forecast system to the Permian Basin, Canada, and the Appalachians, enabling process efficiencies and increasing accuracy for forecasts.
I led several sessions with a combination of Lean Sigma (Kaizen) and design thinking to streamline the existing workflows and envision a final solution that could combine the efforts of the seven teams in a single solution, which could reuse the results that contributed to the workflow each time.
A roadmap was put in place that included a set of core features that could be implemented in different regions and a set of extended features that would only apply to specific regions. The latter was delivered over the span of 18 months that included the MVP plus more than 15 releases.
Drilling and Fracking Simultaneous Operation Prevention
Delivered a proof of concept for a solution that would improve the loss of production and security risks in the Permian Basin oil field, which was approved to move to MVP development.
The original workflow spanned from the planning, design, and execution of the well-development activities in the Permian Basin with a variety of spreadsheets, third-party systems, and the complexity of getting information from other operators in the area. After the information was collected, the analysis required checking for not only schedule overlaps but also for area overlaps. This required us to apply GIS interpolation to detect potential conflicts.
I used a design thinking approach to engage over 50 stakeholders and put together a solution as POC that helped to automate the integration and automatically calculate the necessary overlaps and area interpolations to detect conflicts. This saved a lot of time and effort and improved the accuracy of the analysis.
Upstream Facilities System Optimization
Deployed an MVP for upstream facilities that enabled real-time calculation of utilization and capacity in the Permian region, enabling proactive maintenance and actions to improve operating costs and reduce the loss of production opportunity.
The original business workflow had only PI data streams using the PI software. However, the data and calculations for technical capacity and utilization were managed manually via spreadsheets by the facilities engineers. This was time-consuming and could not be done in real-time. There was a delay of days, or even weeks, to understand the bottlenecks in a specific facility system.
I led a design thinking approach during the discovery phase and came up with a solution that would create a web interface, integrate with the OSIsoft PI System, and enable automatic calculation of the constraints of the system based on the latest data from the data stream. The solution was implemented as an MVP in one of the facility areas in the Permian region and was helping to improve operational activities.
Document and Content Management Systems Support Transition
Deployed two managed service contracts and service lines to support the content management system (CMS) and document management system (DMS) for level-one (L1) and level-two (L2) support, which reduced operating costs and improved service response.
As a response, the support transition project was proposed, and I initiated the RFP process to get a single managed service supplier for each service line. I led the RFP process requirements, engagements, and selection; and, later, the transition of the work to the selected partners.
The efficiencies came from having a single contract per service line, centralized practices globally, redundancy in support, reduced operating costs, and improved service response. The new arrangement also allowed the employee staff to focus on L3 activities, which improved productivity and business value.
IBM OnDemand Replatform
Led the IBM OnDemand replatform project (DB2 to Oracle), reducing support costs significantly.
System Center Orchestrator Automation Tool Pilot
Led the Microsoft System Center Orchestrator automation tool pilot project, enabling the early adoption of DevOps practices in the company.
Finance Invoice Processing Optimization Project
Led the finance invoice processing (AP) optimization and automation project, reducing the number of employees required to perform the activities by 50%.
The original workflow had significant manual interactions, multiple spreadsheets, and a third-party system to which only part of the team had access, which created a bottleneck. The project analyzed the workflow and developed a solution, using PowerShell, which automatically pulled the necessary information, made the work assignments, and produced a report for control.
Trading and Risk Management Systems Replatform
Led the upgrade projects for a database replatform of the trading and risk management systems.
SharePoint 2010 Database Upgrade Project
Led a database migration and upgrade project for the SharePoint 2010 platform as part of the company's global upgrade program. The project automated the process for the migration, which reduced the migration time for all regional hubs.
Data Center Migration Project
Led a data center migration project for Baxter Laboratories' databases by coordinating a DBA team and engaging stakeholders and other IT support staff.
Mendoza Province Meta4 HR and Payroll Optimization Project
Successfully stabilized and optimized the implementation of an HR and payroll management system in the Mendoza Province Government Office.
After the initial go-live of the system had significant, unresolved technical problems, I was selected to stabilize and optimize the system because of my expertise in the area. The system was big and complex, as it managed all the payroll for the government offices, teachers, and government workers in the entire province. I completed the project in less than one year.
VISA Performance Evaluation
Implemented a system that streamlined and improved the performance evaluation process for VISA Argentina.
NEASA Meta4 Payroll Implementation
Implemented the Meta4 payroll system successfully in the Nuclear Energy Argentina (NEA) government regulatory office after a previous consultant left the project unfinished.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems
Argentine University of Enterprise (UADE) - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Certifications
Certified SAFe 5 Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM)
Scaled Agile, Inc
Certified SAFe 4 Agilist
Scaled Agile, Inc
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
Scrum Alliance
ITIL v3 Foundation
EXIN
Skills
Tools
SQL, Slack, Jira, Microsoft Power BI, GIS
Paradigms
Agile Project Management, Agile Leadership, Scrum, Kanban, Change Management, Agile Delivery, Requirements Analysis, Management, Azure DevOps, Design Thinking, DevOps, Agile Product Management
Industry Expertise
Technology, Oil & Gas, Lean Six Sigma, Retail & Wholesale
Platforms
Windows Server, Windows, Azure, SharePoint, WordPress
Other
Microsoft Teams, Information Technology, IT Project Management, Vendors & Suppliers, Scrum Master, Stakeholder Engagement, Team Leadership, IT Operations Management (ITOM), Data Management, Data Integration, Database Management Systems (DBMS), Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP), IT Service Management (ITSM), Managed Services, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Dashboards, Project Management, Milestones, Project Timelines, Project Tracking, Stakeholder Management, Project Scoping, Data, Scope of Work (SOW), User Requirements, Documentation, Resource Allocation, Estimations, Project Estimation, Project Planning, Team Management, Technical Leadership, Operations, Process Improvement, IT Projects, Delivery Management, IT Deployments, Training Materials, Digital Project Management, Requirements, Backlog Management, User Stories, Cost Estimation, Project Budget Management, Requirements & Specifications, Technical Requirements, Agile Sprints, Sprint Planning, Sprints, Strategy, Time Management, Training, Training & Training Content Development, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), IT Product Management, Business Planning, Financial Forecasting, Content Management Systems (CMS), Document Management Systems (DMS), BI Reporting, Root Cause Analysis, Customer Engagement, Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), Customer Support, IT Contracts, Automation Tools, Proof of Concept (POC), Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Discovery Workshops, Stock Trading, Data Visualization, Product Discovery, Websites, Vendor Management, Technical Project Management, User Interface (UI), Process Flows, Product Management, Agile Coaching, App Development, Client Management, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Product Roadmaps, Wireframe to Product, Client Relationship Management, Product Design, Product Owner, Product Ownership, Web Technologies, Request for Proposal (RFP), IT Networking, Software Development, Wireframing, Security
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